


Open Your Eyes

by EmeraldSeaBug



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, DON'T WORRY NOBODY DIES, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, it went a bit fast for me and it seemed that there were bits missing, it's like an extended ending that I personally would've liked to see go down in the movie, so I guess here's how I would change it!, this is based off of a jakeneutron steven universe animatic about an alternate ending, this is how I thought it was gonna go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 17:47:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20911622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldSeaBug/pseuds/EmeraldSeaBug
Summary: Steven's powers don't come back as fast as he would've preferred them to, and Spinel gets a bit more alone time to think about what qualifies as a game these days.





	Open Your Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of Jakeneutron's "Goodbye, Steven Universe" Animatic. What I did ended up being quite a bit different, but the animatic is excellent, go check it out!

“You know I came here to take my anger out on a bunch of strangers,” Spinel ground out, almost conversationally. “But now that I know you, I wanna kill you even more...”

One finger snapped like a rubber band away from Steven’s wrist, and another, and another, until he was left dangling by the sleeve of his jacket, crying out and panting with panic and exertion. He’d never felt this exhausted in his life, so it felt almost fitting that someone was about to end it-

His gem flickered, and he growled.

“I don’t get it!”

“Huh?”

“Why aren’t my powers back?” His voice began cracking, his eyes were dry and so was the inside of his mouth, but his mind was loud and drums were pounding in his ears. “Aren’t I reliving every horrible thing that’s ever happened to me?”  
Memories flashed through his mind at intervals between desperate plans of survival that had no chance of succeeding.

“A gem I barely know is trying to kill me-”

There was no way he was getting out of this.

“I’m paying for stuff that my mom did that had nothing to do with me-!”

Biding his time was worthless, wasn’t it?

“I’m struggling with my powers, the world’s about to end!”

Suddenly his eyes weren’t so dry anymore.

“What piece could I be missing? This is the story of my life!”

There was a pause, as Spinel stared at him, eyes wide. Then, she snorted, and started laughing.  
“Wow, I knew I was gonna set you back, but-” She waved him around. “THIS is how you started? The legend, Steven Universe?!” She cackled through her next words, Steven staring at her with hot tears rolling down his face. He couldn’t blink.

“You gotta be kidding me! How did a powerless loser, like you, become Savior of the Galaxy?!”

In a split-second decision, she shook him by his sleeve with her index finger and thumb, letting the fabric slowly slide down, grabbing all of Steven’s attention as he stared at it in fear and desperation.

Spinel’s grin faded. “You don’t even know, do you? How’s it that even the most worthless little hunks of organic life like you, could make a difference in anything? And does it even MATTER anymore? Without your mom’s powers, you’re just a little clueless nobody, trapped in your own stinkin’ head, your own stinkin’ PLANET, while everything crashes down around you!”  
Her hand went perfectly still, and she stared directly into his eyes.  
“I GOT NEWS FOR YA, PUNK! You’re just about to join the big finale!” There wasn’t a trace of mirth left in her expression. Steven shook his head the tiniest amount, but he could see what was coming, it was right there in her eyes.

“I hope you enjoyed your happily ever after, Steven Universe.”

And he was falling. It was almost like a dream, he’d visualized this scenario too many times all while climbing up the injector, confronting Spinel, and dangling directly over his doom, but it still seemed that it couldn’t be true.

“No, no!”  
He pin-wheeled in midair, flipping around and staring down instead of up, but that just increased his panic level up to maximum.

“I did everything I was supposed to! What am I missing?!”  
He’d done everything he could: he’d understood, he grew, he reached out, so why couldn’t Spinel? What was he doing wrong?

‘Is this really it? The end of the ‘savior of the galaxy,’ falling off of his pink pedestal to hit the ground at speeds high enough to shatter even a diamond on impact. What a joke.’

Spinel really was a master comedian, wasn’t she? 

Wind rushed past his ears, and when he spoke, his voice sounded more isolated than ever.

“I’m so sorry, guys… I wasn’t enough. The Crystal Gems, Dad, Connie… Spinel. I didn’t save you, and now the galaxy’s gonna have to live on without me.”

His tears floated upwards, and the ground was getting closer and closer. That’s two good things about the injector, a great vantage point, and it was tall enough to let you come to terms with your own mortality on the way down.

“Everything’s so different, now…”

What changed? It was all so simple when he was just a kid, and that was only 3 years ago. Since then he’d been through so much heartbreak, pain, growth, and… he’d lived through so much.  
He couldn’t believe all that was about to end. And it had all gone by so fast. When did everything around him start going so fast? 

Bits and pieces of the years gone by flashed through his mind, going backwards further and further until he was there, at the beginning, getting just as upset about cookie cat and crying breakfast friends as he did about things in his real life. What changed?

It had all started with the glow of his gem, all the way back then. And then everyone around him, the world, he…

“… I changed.”

And all of the sudden, the gem glow in his memories overran his senses.

…

“Finally, THAT'S over with!” Spinel’s arms deflated to the ground and slid behind her as she went to stand in the center of the injector. “Talk about dramatic, but at least it’s over now!”

And it was, over. She had nothing left to worry about, once the injector finished pumping its contents into the planet. Maybe Earth wouldn’t be destroyed- seeing as how she’d jumped the gun a little- but Beach City certainly would. The place Pink had spent all of her true happiest moments, dead and ruined, just like the garden was.

Sure, Earth and Beach City may have had a bit of a… higher population, than she’d expected, but that was just the icing on the cake, wasn’t it? More of Pink’s little friends to destroy. If Spinel was worth nothing, she’d make sure everyone else felt the same. Felt nothing.

At least, she was supposed to feel nothing.

“… Well! Nothing left to do but stand here and watch!”  
She looked to the edge of the injector.  
“… Or, just, stand here. It’s my game now, I can change the rules however I want!”

She’d said before that she didn’t wanna play anymore, but the game didn’t really have to end until she said so. And the game was still going. It was going until Beach City was gone. 

It was going until Steven hit the ground.

‘Spinel… this is not a GAME!,' Steven's voice echoed through her memories.

She clenched her fists, tightly, and forced a smile on her face. This was fun! Loads of fun. It’s not a good game, unless it’s fun. And this was a great game!

‘that’s not the TRUTH!’

She growled and tore at her own hair, stomping a foot on the ground in agitation. “What’s wrong with me?! Why am I- what’s-?!”

Did she want this? Did she really, truly want this?

Her knees hit the polished gem surface of the injector with a thunk, and she ducked her head down.

She was getting really, really tired of games that she couldn’t win.

…

He wasn’t going to make it.

Steven faced towards the ground, arms crossed over his chest as he desperately willed his gem to heal faster, glow brighter, do something to slow his fall, but he only seemed to move faster and faster.

“Come on come on come on come on-!”

It was too late, the ground was too close and all he could see was the dead grass and sharp rock heading towards him at the speed of light, it was officially game over.

Steven closed his eyes, and waited for the sound of breaking glass.

Then… he jerked to a stop, and scrunched his eyes even tighter.   
A moment went by, then another, and another, and then he opened his eyes. The cold, hard ground was only feet away, and his toes were just inches from touching the tip of a dried flower, already half-crumbled into dust. It was all brightly lit by the glow of his gem, but...

He started moving up. It wasn’t like floating, this was much faster, and… jerkier. And tighter. Especially at the back of his jacket.   
Steven turned his head around to look, and at the first glimpse of dusty pink, he knew exactly what had happened, but still couldn’t believe it. Not until he saw it for himself.

Steven was dragged into the air meters above the surface of the injector, and dropped down, roughly. He let out an oof as he hit the floor, and quickly looked up, just in time to see Spinel reeling her arm back to her side, familiarly mimicking the action of reeling in a fishing rod with her other arm.   
She wasn’t looking at him, but instead down at the injector’s polished surface.

“I hope you’re happy, Steven… you made me lose.” When she looked up, her eyes were filled with tears. All Steven could do was stare.

He swallowed. “Spinel, you… you saved-”

“SHUT UP!”  
A rubbery arm flung out and aimed a fist to the center of his chest, but instead of catching him once more, it let out a loud ‘thunk!’ as it slammed against the outside of his shield. The hand relaxed into an open palm and pressed against the hard-light’s surface, and Spinel’s eyes widened.  
“What? You- you-!” She curled her hand into a fist once more and yanked it back like a bungee cord, returning it to her side while she slammed a foot into the ground. “Are you serious?! You got your powers back, and you just-! You let me make a fool of myself, helping you out?! No! Nobody makes me a fool ANYMORE!”

She leapt at him, but before she could make a dent in his face Steven’s powers lifted him into the air, and she was blown back with the force of Pink Diamond’s shield. Steven looked at her, a newly determined glint in his eyes.  
“Spinel… I only got my powers back, because I remembered how much I’ve had to go through just to get here, still in one piece.” He lifted a hand to his chest, spread his palm over the star on his shirt, and smiled. “I’ve grown, and changed, and you can, too. You’re not a villain, Spinel. You’re just in a bad place, and I- we, can help you get better.”

He touched down right in front of her, and faced his own reflection in the injector’s surface.

“I can make a promise...”

...

Steven had to admit, his arms were getting a little tired. But Spinel slammed fist after fist into his shield, punctuating every word she said with a thunk.  
“I used to just be not good enough, just NOT GOOD ENOUGH for Pink, but now...”  
She lifted her arms and thread her hands together, stretching and preparing to deliver a huge, double-handed strike.  
“Now...”  
Her hands shook, and Steven only just then noticed that she was no longer looking at him, but at the bulls-eye in the middle of his mother’s shield.  
“I’M NOT GOOD AT ALL!”

And a huge SLAM reverberated all around them, the floor cracking and snapping, and the overwhelming sound of breaking glass was all Steven could hear for what seemed like an eternity.

Then, he heard laughing.  
And sobbing.

“Th-that’s funny, r-right?” Spinel crumpled to her knees, throwing her fists at the pink shield one last time. “At least you found me entertaining...”

Steven gazed through his shield and at Spinel’s broken expression, which she quickly covered with her hands. He wanted to speak, but… she had to come to this realization by herself.

“What am I doing? Why do I wanna hurt you so bad?” She whispered, voice cracking. Steven felt his own heart breaking into pieces.

“I’m supposed to be your friend...” She took her hands away from her flushed pink, newly tear-stained face, and shook with contained sobs. “I just wanna be your friend.”

The shield began shrinking away, and Spinel scrambled back, her metaphorical heart beating in her throat.

“Spinel…” He stayed kneeling in the shattered remains of the gem-floor, looking at her with big eyes and a sad smile. “It’s not too late.”

She froze, eyes flicking all across his expression as if looking for some kind of deception, the flicker of a smile preceding mocking laughter, anything, but whatever she was looking for, she didn’t find it.

“But I… your planet, you- your friends, your face?! Aw no no no, I did all of that, and I tried to do MORE, I wanted to destroy everyone on Earth, Steven, I wanted to destroy YOU. You don’t have to be… you SHOULDN'T be nice to me, I don’t understand, I...”

Steven stood up, and extended a hand to her. “You’re not all bad, Spinel. You just made mistakes, and now you have a chance to fix them. With the Earth, with me, with you.” He looked into her eyes, and Spinel saw the truth.

“You’re more than just your mistakes, Spinel. You’re more than the people who hurt you. And you can change.”

A pause, and a shaking pink glove extended towards Steven’s open palm, then froze as the cracks of the injector began to glow with a glaring pink light, and suddenly Steven was the one reaching towards her.

Then, there was noise, and pink, all around her. Like there hadn’t been for 6,000 years. And a bubble holding two gems began descending towards the surface of the Earth.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you think you see a posting issue! I hope the formatting worked out.


End file.
